By Jim Smith STAFF WRITER
Some day, Esa Tikkanen can tell his grandchildren he scored goals on passes from Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky in the same playoff game. But more important to Tikkanen is his quest for a fifth ring.
Tikkanen shared Stanley Cups with Messier and Gretzky in Edmonton in 1987 and 1988. He won a third with Messier in 1990 after Gretzky had been traded to the Kings. Then Tikkanen and Messier helped break the Rangers' 54-year Cupless jinx in 1994.
“My dream is to win the Stanley Cup again in New York,” Tikkanen said after getting the Rangers' second and third goals in a 3-2 Game 3 victory over the Devils last night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers lead the Eastern Conference semifinal series, two games to one.
A month after the Rangers' last parade, Tikkanen was sent to the Blues as part of the deal that allowed coach Mike Keenan to break his contract and go to St. Louis. Tikkanen then spent three weeks with the Devils in the fall of 1995 before moving on to Vancouver.
This past March 8, Rangers general manager Neil Smith got Tikkanen back, along with Russ Courtnail, by sending Sergei Nemchinov and Brian Noonan to the Canucks.
“We were missing the ingredient he supplies,” Smith said, “which is defensive reliability, along with offensive ability and some aggravation,” Smith said he hopes to re-sign Tikkanen, 32, who becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
“When I came here I was excited to come back to New York,” Tikkanen said. “Lots of good memories coming to New York . . . Vancouver was great city. I liked playing there. But when you're sitting on the bench all the time …”
Tikkanen's first goal came 5:24 into the game on a one-timer from near the right post after a back-handed cross-ice feed from Messier. It put the Rangers ahead 2-0. His other goal came on a power play at 6:41 of the second and made it 3-1. Tikkanen converted Gretzky's feed from behind the net to the right circle. “Great passes,” Tikkanen said.
The goals tied him for the club playoff goal-scoring lead with Gretzky. Each has five. In 158 career playoff games, Tikkanen has 65 goals, 55 assists. “Every time when playoffs start, I'm ready to play hockey,” he said.
In this series, Tikkanen has played mostly right-wing on a line with Messier and Adam Graves. He also played left wing last night on a line with Gretzky and Niklas Sundstrom.
“He's been a huge asset to us,” assistant coach Dick Todd said, “particularly tonight. He understands the game very well. Some players just have a knack to read the play on the ice. He does.”
Colin Campbell compared Tikkanen to the Avalanche's Claude Lemieux. “I play him every place, everywhere, all the time,” Campbell said. “He's an agitator . . . They're key guys to have. He's a battler.”
Tikkanen had two other good chances to score. He rifled a slap shot at 13:15 of the second period that goalie Martin Brodeur stopped with his blocker. And at about 7:45 of the third, Tikkanen shot just over the crossbar from the left circle.
At 8:19, he mixed it up with the Devils' Doug Gilmour. Both were penalized for roughing. With 3:49 left in the game, Tikkanen hooked Devils captain Scott Stevens off the puck in the Rangers' zone and was penalized.
“I was surprised,” Tikkanen said. “Scott Stevens is 220 pounds. I'm only 200. He fell like a little boy. But our penalty-killers coming up big. It was a bad penalty to take at that time. You have to hold yourself, keep cool.”
With 1:39 to go, Tikkanen was clipped inadvertently by Stevens' stick on the bridge of his nose and blood streamed down. It looked worse than it was. “Not bad,” Tikkanen said. “Only four stitches.”